My expensive American Netting that is green was spread over my Montmorency cherry tree which had quite a crop. Two squirrels chewed their way into the tree through the netting and ate every cherry! The tree was loaded.
Also glad I picked almost all of my black currants. I was walking past the bushes this evening and there I find a rabbit inside of the netting covering the currants. I quickly ran to get my big shovel. By the time I got back he/she chewed a hole through the netting and ran off. Two new nets with two new holes. The netting is tough stuff too! Geesh!
Sheesh, weāve got superpowered animals on our hands! I have been having a problem with the catbirds on my blueberry netting, they are getting under it and I canāt figure out how. They may be bumping it with their heads to get in through the bottom. I put some piping down on a bunch of the bottom and that slowed them down, and I probably need to lay pipes all the way around it.
They seem to have excellent vision and will find any small opening or find a place to get under the netting. Every bit of the netting bottom needs to be held done. Pipes or 2x4s work for me as long as there are no gaps. One got in and out again this year and I couldnāt see how. I improved the bottom hold done with every inch covered and none have since breached my defense.
Iāve been good for 24 hours now, I put bricks or firewood all around the base. Will have to remember from now on to keep the net bottom down. With the thin netting they get caught in it and canāt get in, but the wound nylon stuff they donāt get stuck in so they are more bold.
Just curious, I recently had a chipmunk getting into my greenhouse. I set a Victor rat trap out, baited with peanut butter. It caught him/her in a few hours. BTW this was the biggest chipmunk I had ever seen, quite well fed too, no doubt from my chicken feed.
Anyway I was thinking that this rat trap with PB might work for tree rats as well. Just curious if anyone had tried this?
I tried them and caught zero squirrels. The traps were going off and the bait was missing, but no squirrel. In principle it seems like it might work as squirrels are not much bigger than rats.
Rat traps donāt work on squirrels. The spring has to be made tighter or nails have to be added through the bottom. There is a YouTube video showing how squirrels walk away from a rat traps after a few seconds of being stunned.
Oh no- I did not ever say that secondary poisonings due to Golden Malrin were unlikely!
Please! - I know that info is out there - but Iād ask that you (generic) NOT do the Golden Malrin in Mountain Dew thing. Itās certainly dangerous, and probably an illegal application/utilization of that pesticide.
Hi, Lucky, and thank you for speaking out. My apologies if I over-spoke; I hope my disclaimer was enough that people didnāt take it as a license. Iām going to try to edit that post if it isnāt too late.
(Edit: just tried to edit the March 28 post and apparently itās too late.)
Thanks, Scott. That would be perfect. I thought about just deleting it, but it might be worthwhile to leave the trail for its educational value.
Could you add a disclaimer to the effect that:
In a later response Lucky specifically warns against using Golden Malrin and says this on August 3, post number 129 below:
āOh no- I did not ever say that secondary poisonings due to Golden Malrin were unlikely!
Please! - I know that info is out there - but Iād ask that you (generic) NOT do the Golden Malrin in Mountain Dew thing. Itās certainly dangerous, and probably an illegal application/utilization of that pesticide.ā
Thanks, Scott and Lucky. Iām very glad to have the opportunity to back out of this one.
's all right.
I absolutely understand the frustration of depredating wildlife on fruiting plants, and advocate termination with extreme prejudice.- and have practiced it regularlyā¦
No trap and release - itās frowned upon by wildlife biologists, and illegal in many states.
But, I canāt advocate use of pesticides in a manner that could potentially poison ānon-targetā animals.
M